"Mom." Qing Han raised her small pink face. "The Ninth Emperor did not die. He disappeared."

"Disappeared?"

"Yes." Qing Han stroked her small head. "Actually, I do not remember him very well. We were quite young at that time. We just remembered that he had always watered us and talked to us every day."

"But, one day, the Ninth Emperor came into the garden of the spirit herbs and told us that his lover had gotten into trouble. He needed to leave the Divine Herbs Sect. He even ordered the sect masters of every generation to take good care of us. Then, he left and never came back."

Their impression of the Ninth Emperor was only that much.

They were too young at that time so they lacked spiritual wisdom. Thus, they could not remember his face and his spiritual qi. 

They could only hear what he had said to them every day.

"This…" Feng Ruqing stroked her chin. "Was the Ninth Emperor a male or a female?"

"I don't know."

n.o.body knew the Ninth Emperor's gender.

n.o.body knew how he or she looked either.

"I still have one last question." Feng Ruqing smiled and looked at the creatures in her hands. "Are the two of you spirit herbs?"

Fu Chen roared. He was so shocked that he escaped from Feng Ruqing's embrace. 

He found that Qing Han was about to say something. He quickly covered her mouth and did not let her keep talking.

"Qing Han, don't you talk nonsense. We're not spirit herbs. How are we spirit herbs?"

Qing Han blinked and nodded.

Fu Chen sighed in relief, then removed his hands from her mouth.

"Brother Fu Chen is right. If Mom knows that we're spirit herbs, she would totally eat us."

Fu Chen could not utter a word.

Was this girl stupid?

Lack of spiritual wisdom?

Qing Han looked at Fu Chen, whose face had darkened with grief. "Brother Fu Chen, what have I said wrongly? It's you who had asked me to say this. I did not say anything wrong."

"..."

'I just want to throw this girl out.'

"Qing Han is right," Feng Ruqing consoled Qing Han. She smiled even wider. "You've said what Fu Chen had taught you to say. You've done nothing wrong."

"But, Brother Fu Chen seems to be angry."

"Don't bother about him. He's always angry. He'll be fine after a while."

"Okay, I'll listen to Mom."

Qing Han hugged Feng Ruqing's neck with her two little hands. Qing Han giggled aloud. Her laugh was even clearer than the sound of the bell. It was like there was some kind of magic in it.

'A spirit herb who can bite people and laugh like that. What kind of species is this young girl?

'Oh! Spirit herbs also can transform into people.'

Feng Ruqing realized now that the creatures in front of her were two spirit herbs which had transformed into humans. 

"Hmph!"

Fu Chen grunted unhappily.

'If Qing Han is not in Mom's embrace and if I can beat her without any feelings, I'd totally grab her and beat her up.'

'I've hidden my ident.i.ty for so long, and now she has exposed it with just one sentence.'

***

Feng Ruqing hugged these two creatures and enjoyed the happiness of the family union. On the other hand, the Liu family had fallen into a pit of great fear.

The old master of Liu family—Liu Yunxiao had returned! This was indeed a good event, but he had brought along a group of spirit beasts with him.